Section leaders vie for supremacy

Hosts Finland will be eager to maintain the momentum of their victorious start to UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ when they take on the Netherlands at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, with both teams vying to take sole control of Group A.

• Michael Käld's Finland side kicked off their bid in perfect fashion with a 1-0 win over Denmark in the capital on Sunday, Maija Saari making the difference with a crossed free-kick that evaded everyone and nestled in the back of the net with 49 minutes gone.

• The goal followed a first-half dominated by the Danes, but galvanised by their lead Finland went on to give their coach the perfect outcome to his 100th match in charge of the national side.

• The Netherlands likewise enjoyed a winning start to the competition thanks to their 2-0 success against Ukraine in Turku. The Dutch got the tournament up and running with two strikes inside the first ten minutes, Kirsten van de Ven prodding in a deep cross after just four minutes and Karin Stevens adding a simple tap-in five minutes later.

• Those two early breakthroughs allowed Vera Pauw's team to see out the rest of the match in relative comfort, even threatening to add to their tally through Sylvia Smit and Manon Melis on the counterattack.

• Now, with both of Wednesday's opponents on three points, they come face to face for the tenth time, having never before contested a competitive match.

• Their first meeting came on 17 October 1981 in Taipei, Finland winning 1-0. Overall Finland have four wins to the Netherlands' three with two draws, and the 2009 hosts lead 14-5 on goals scored.

• There are several recent friendly meetings. In February 2005, Finland won 1-0 in Las Palmas and confirmed that form six months later with a 4-0 victory in Oulu, their only previous home encounter with the Netherlands. They then played twice in Maspalomas, Spain in February 2006, the Netherlands winning 1-0 before a goalless draw three days later.

• Finland's Taru Laihanen scored the only goal when these sides met in the second qualifying round of the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship in April 2005 while Marloes De Boer was on target as the Netherlands won 2-0 in the third qualifying round of the 2001 event, then a U18 competition.

• Netherlands coach Pauw is leading her team in their first final tournament and makes no secret that they have taken inspiration from Finland, who reached the last four on their finals debut four years ago. "Finland were semi-finalists in 2005 and they have actually been an example for us to follow," Pauw told uefa.com. "So it's fantastic to play them, especially as they are the hosts."

• Finland were involved in the first match in the history of the original European competition, the UEFA European Competition for Representative Women Teams, losing 6-0 at home to eventual winners Sweden in Vammala on 18 August 1982.

• Finland also took part in the first qualifier for the inaugural UEFA European Women's Championship, losing 1-0 at home to Norway in Varkaus in 9 September 1989.

• The Netherlands finished bottom of their qualifying groups in 1997 and 2001 and needed to beat the Czech Republic and Hungary respectively in play-offs to remain in the top tier of the two-divisional system then in operation. In 2005 they only just pipped Belgium to finish fourth in a five-team group but the turning point was a 1-0 win in France at the start of 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying. They subsequently ran Les Bleues and England close despite ending third in the pool, boosting their coefficient in the process.